Review: Groupon Deals
With the arrival of numerous daily deal websites in Dubai, it has now become easier and affordable to experience the latest and greatest that Dubai has to offer in shopping, dining, electronics, adventure trips and more.
One such website is Groupon.
Here is how it works.
At Groupon, each day you are offered a new deal. This deal is offered at a huge discount which can be availed by purchasing the it through Groupon website. The success of the deal depends on how many deals are purchased. If a predetermined number of deals are purchased, then the deal is successful and all the buyers receive a voucher. The voucher can then be used to claim the item purchased from the vendor.
Of course the discount being offered highly depends on minimum number of deals purchased. Only then it would make sense for any business to offer such high discounts if they are able to sell large quantity at that discounted rate.
I was asked by Groupon to test out their service and share the experience with my readers. So here is my experience.
The website is very simple and easy to use.
First off you select the city where you want to find the deals. Then you are offered the deal of the day. Also in the sidebar you can see other deals being offered or you can go to all deals page to see all the deals currently being offered. Or you can look at deals in a specific category such as shopping or traveling. You can also subscribe to have new deals emailed to you every day.
Once you decide that you want to go ahead and purchase the deal, simply click the big Buy Now button and you will be taken to the checkout page. At this point, you will be asked to enter your contact details and credit card information (or if you are already a member, you can simply sign in and use credit card details already saved in your account). Once your credit card is successfully processed, you will be taken to a confirmation page as well as receive a confirmation email. And you are done.
Now if the deal is successful, meaning it has reached the required number of buyers within the required time, you will receive your voucher via email within minutes. However if the deal is not yet declared successful, then you will receive the voucher as soon as it becomes successful.
Once you receive the voucher you can simply call the seller of the deal and discuss how you can redeem it.
And that’s it. It’s pretty easy to use Groupon and purchase a deal.
But I also want to discuss a little more about the kinds of deals offered on Groupon and my personal opinion on what kind of deals offer the best value.
If you look at all the deals currently offered on Groupon, you can roughly divide it in two categories: Shopping and Experience. Shopping deals are, as the name suggests, deals on stuff that you can buy, such as an electronic gadget, jewelry, clothing, fitness equipment and so on.
On the other hand, Experience deals are those deals in which you don’t buy something tangible but instead you get a service that enriches your life. For example there are deals on Groupon for language training courses, massages, grooming, adventure trips, vacation packages including hotel and flights, fitness club memberships, vehicle maintenance, lunch and dinner packages, and so on. So basically you gain a new experience and not end up owning something new.
In my opinion, Groupon is best for experience deals. You can get discount on shopping items in other ways as well but it is hard to get the same price on experience items any other way. And most experience deals are usually offered at a price less than half the normal, which you cannot get directly from the seller.
The deal I purchased on Groupon was for detailed cleaning of my vehicle. Now my vehicle looks as good as new and it is a pleasure to drive. I didn’t own anything but I feel good. Without Groupon same deal would have costed me three times more. So I personally recommend to take advantage of such deals offered on Groupon.
I really like Groupon and will continue to use it in future.
So let me know what you think. Do you use Groupon or other such sites? What kind of deals do you usually buy?